IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
130
INTRODUCTION
ideas on both subjects possessed by Herodotus. The later
Geographers no doubt knew his statements, but did not appre-
ciate them, probably from not possessing the evidence on which
they were based.
80. As regards the second cause alleged, we may say that
down nearly to the middle of the 15th century cosmographers,
General char- as a rule, made scarcely any attempt to reform their
acteristics
of Medieval maps by any elaborate search for new matter, or by
Cosmogra-
phy. lights that might be collected from recent travellers.
Their world was in its outline that handed down by the tradi-
tions of their craft, as sanctioned by some Father of the Church,
such as Orosius or Isidore, as sprinkled with a combination of
classical and medieval legend ; Solinus being the great authority
for the former. Almost universally the earth's surface is re-
presented as filling the greater part of a circular disk, rounded by
the ocean ; a fashion that already existed in the time of
Aristotle and was ridiculed by him.* No dogma of false
geography was more persistent or more pernicious than this.
Jerusalem occupies the central point, because it was found
written in the Prophet Ezekiel : " Haec dicit Dominus Deus :
Ista est Jerusalem, in medio gentium posui earn, et in circuitu ejus
terras OE."-!- a declaration supposed to be corroborated by the
Psalmist's expression, regarded as prophetic of the death of
Our Lord : " Deus autezn, Rex nosier, ante secula operatus est
salutem in medio Terrae " (Ps. lxxiii. 12).} The Terrestrial
~
p,
1.4
" E molti gran Profeti Filosofi e Poeti
Fanno il colco dell' Emme Dov'è Gerusalemme ; Se le loro scritture Hanno vere figure:
E 24er la Santa fede
Cristiana ancor si vede
Che' l' suo principio Cristo
Nel suo mezzo conquisto
Per cui .prese morte
E vi dose la sorte."
—(Rime Antiche Toscane, III. 9.)
Though the general meaning of the second couplet is obvious, the expression il
* " They draw nowadays the map of the world in a laughable manner, for they draw the inhabited earth as a circle ; but this is impossible, both from what we see and from reason." (Meteorologa: Lib. II. cap. 5.) Cf. Herodotus, iv. 36.
t In Dante's Cosmography, Jerusalem is the centre of our oiKOV,uÓVn, whilst the Mount of Purgatory occupies the middle of the Antipodal hemisphere :-
" Come ciö sia, se'l vuoi poter pensare, Dentro raccolto immagina Sion
Con questo monte in su la terra stare, Si, ch' ambodue hann' un solo orrizon
E diversi emisperi "
—Purg. IV. 67.
$ The belief, with this latter ground of it, is alluded to in curious verses by Jacopo Alighieri, Dante's son :—
,,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.